


a voice that was echoing mine

by Highsmith (quimtessence)



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Baklava, Baklava Bets, Canon Compliant, Canon Queer Character of Color, Canon Queer Relationship, Established Relationship, Friendship, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Montenegro, Pre-Canon, Team as Family, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25451551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quimtessence/pseuds/Highsmith
Summary: Baklava bets? Baklava bets!Joe wants to enjoy the warm late-afternoon sand and a perfect March clear-skied sunset alone, for a value of "alone" which means "alone with Nicky", but Booker is being a rowdy mess in the same fifty metres as them.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache & Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Joe | Yusuf al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 28
Kudos: 451





	a voice that was echoing mine

**Author's Note:**

> Has the baklava bet origin been done yet? Hopefully not! :D
> 
> (And, I mean, for myself I'd read a hundred takes on this anyway, so. Yeah.)
> 
> Title from "After the Fall" by October Project.

It's twelve kilometres of beach, Velika, and Joe wants to enjoy the warm late-afternoon sand and a perfect March clear-skied sunset alone, for a value of "alone" which means "alone with Nicky", but Booker is being a rowdy mess in the same fifty metres as them, unwilling to leave off despite Joe's pointed glares.

Andy might be rolling her eyes at him, but it's obvious she's amused, in good humour for once. So is Joe, don't get him wrong. He'd be in much better spirits, however, if Booker weren't feeding Nicky low-grade rum instead of buggering off and taking Andy with him. He circles them, sand whirling across their feet, but he inevitably halts to linger periodically by Nicky to pour more drink into him from his tiny flask.

"Non fare così," mutters Nicky once Booker's back to prodding Andy to share in the booze. Joe clutches at his shoes, the pair of them dangling from the last two fingers of his right hand; sinks in his toes farther in, heels starting to itch. Replies mildly, "I'm enjoying the sunset, my love." Nicky blinks at him, shrugs, reaches for his discarded jacket.

He retrieves a small packet Joe watched him pack earlier in the afternoon containing whatever it was that Nicky put the rest of in their hotel room refrigerator. Before Joe can ask, Nicky strides over to Andy to profess his little gift.

Although she frowns confusedly, she reaches for it and promptly opens it, revealing what Joe can easily spy are two pieces of baklava. Knows it's from a batch Nicky must have prepared himself earlier in the day while Joe was watching a game on the telly.

"Well," Booker comments, but stops to watch Andy's reaction to biting into the first piece. Knowing Nicky, there's little doubt it's going to be some of the best baklava any of them have ever had, but Joe has to admit even he is a little curious where Andy's concerned.

None of them have been surprised by Nicky's skill in decades upon decades, but Andy's always been the one to impress—though Nicky always did, and marvellously so.

Expression eager, Nicky is obviously equally anticipating her pronouncement. It distracts Joe from the proceedings enough, that look of anticipation Nicky usually only wears behind closed doors, that he has to consciously drag his eyes away lest he fall completely out of the moment into daydreams of Nicky's blushy skin against the clean, white sheets of their hotel room bed. It's a struggle he fails ten times over.

She's already on the second piece before uttering even a single word. She holds what remains between her fingers as if it were precious.

"I expected walnuts," she finally sighs, oddly content.

The left corner of Nicky's mouth twitches faintly. Joe wants to lick it. Booker snickers. Andy says, "It _is_ walnuts. And pistachios. Chopped very fine. Not enough raisins, but the honey is, huh. It makes up for it," she concludes.

"Does it?" Nicky muses.

Joe figures it's going to end there, but Andy swallows pensively, narrows her eyes, closes them, then opens them right back after a long moment to ask, "Is it Ogiek?" Joe remembers the little pot of reddish honey Nicky got last-minute before returning to Europe. Nicky nods, and Andy smiles widely, and Booker whoops.

"Remind me not to bet against you," Booker tells her, his eyes going from one to the other, as if daring them to say differently.

Nicky toes at a bump in the sand. "I might take that bet next time." Joe half-suppresses a laugh, knowing it's not a bet Nicky's likely to win.

Smiling, probably just as aware of his frail odds, Nicky ducks his head, hair shifting forward, not yet sun-bleached this year. Joe wishes they'd go back farther South, or perhaps stick around here until June or July, if only so he could get the chance to watch it turn lighter, watch him tuck it behind his ears or welcome Joe's reaching fingers grasping for it.

Already Booker's turned his back on them, making his way back, his steps easier than the clumsy strides from before. Andy swallows the rest of the baklava with obvious delight. "Thank you," she tells Nicky, then joins Booker, scooping up her own jacket along the way.

"The rest is for us tonight and the others tomorrow morning," Nicky finally says as they watch them go.

"What of right now?" Joe has to ask. His tongue is too big for his mouth. He glances at Nicky over the crest of his shoulder.

And Nicky smiles, eyes soft, and reaches for him, finally alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated. They give me life! <3
> 
> "Non fare così." = Don't be like that.
> 
> Tumblr: [rhubarbdreams](https://rhubarbdreams.tumblr.com/)


End file.
